Southern Cross boosts U resource

Southern Cross Resources (SXR) has increased resources at its Goulds Dam-Billeroo uranium property in Australia.

Based on 504 holes drilled between 1969 and 1980, not all of which had been used in previous resource calculations, the inferred resource at the property has been pegged at 18 million tonnes grading 0.098% U3O8, equivalent to 18,000 contained tonnes. That estimate is significantly higher than the 2,300 contained tonnes reported before all holes drilled on the property were included in the estimate.

The property also hosts a higher-grade pocket of uranium, upon which a feasibility study for an in-situ leach operation will be based. That deposit contains a resource of 7 million tonnes grading 0.11% U3O8, equivalent to 7,800 contained tonnes.

The company is currently conducting delineation drilling on the two channels — Billeroo and Curnamona — that host the resource, as well as infill drilling to upgrade the resource to the indicated category from its current status of inferred.

Southern Cross also owns the Honeymoon deposit in Australia, in which measured and indicated resources stand at 4,600 tonnes of contained uranium.

The company began producing small amounts of uranium in April and predicts that the mine will be churning out 1 million lbs. by 1999 and 2 million lbs.

by 2000.